Text and Nikud
The word is the foundation of every tile: it's shown on the tile, spoken when tapped, and added to the reading line. This page explains how to type the word in the tile editor and how to make sure a Hebrew word sounds right using nikud (Hebrew vowel marks). How to open the tile editor is covered on the Tiles page.
Typing the word
In the Text section of the editor, type the word into the word field. As you type, autocomplete suggestions appear from the app's built-in word library — thousands of Hebrew words that come with a ready-made image.
It's worth picking a suggestion from the list instead of typing all the way: choosing a suggestion automatically fills in the matching image, the linguistic category (which sets the tile's color — see Tiles) and the nikud, when they exist in the library.
You can of course type any word — first names, family nicknames, slang. For words like these, simply pick an image manually (see Image) and check how they're spoken.
Why does nikud matter?
Hebrew written without nikud is ambiguous: “ספר” can be sefer (a book), sapar (a barber) or safar (counted). The text-to-speech voice guesses the pronunciation — and sometimes gets it wrong. Adding nikud to a word tells the speech engine exactly how to pronounce it. The nikud is used only for accurate speech; on the tile itself the word appears exactly as you typed it.
When should you fix the nikud? Very simple — whenever you tap the tile and the word doesn't sound right.
Automatic nikud
A built-in nikud dictionary supplies automatic vowel marks for many Hebrew words, even without an internet connection and on first use. When you type a supported word or pick it from the autocomplete suggestions, an empty nikud field is filled automatically. Updated pronunciation defaults take priority when available. Nikud already saved on a tile, including marks you entered manually, is kept.
Words with more than one meaning may still need manual nikud. Use Play to check that the pronunciation matches the intended meaning.
A single letter
A tile holding a single letter — and a letter typed on the Hebrew keyboard — is spoken as the letter's sound, not its name: „ל" is heard as „לֶ" ("le"), not „למד" ("lamed"). That is what makes letter tiles usable for reading practice and for building words.
Nikud wins here too: a letter you pointed yourself is spoken exactly as pointed — „לַ" is heard as "la", not "le". To play the letter's name instead, for example on a board teaching the alphabet, enter custom text and type „למד".
The manual nikud editor
In the Vowel marks (nikud) section of the editor, each letter of the word is shown as a separate cell:
- Tap the letter you want to mark — the panel of nikud signs opens.
- Pick a sign: shva, hirik, tsere, segol, patah, kamatz, holam, kubutz or dagesh. Each sign is shown on the letter you selected, so you can see in advance how it will look. Tapping an active sign again removes it.
- For the letter ש, the shin dot (שׁ) and the left sin dot (שׂ) are also offered.
- The delete button on the panel clears the nikud from the selected letter, and Clear all removes the nikud from the entire word.
- Tap Play to hear how the word sounds with the current nikud — it's a good idea to check after every fix.
If nikud isn't enough — for example with foreign words or names — you can instead record the word in your own voice, or enter custom text that is spoken in place of the written word. Both ways are explained on the Voice page. When you choose custom spoken text, the nikud editor works on the custom text — so you can add nikud to it too.